The number of children treated in U.S. emergency departments for falls from windows approached 100,000 between 1990 and 2008, says a study in the journal Pediatrics. The research shows that the number of injuries declined during the first decade of the study period, but has since plateaued.

"We still are seeing over 5,000 children a year treated in hospital emergency departments across the country for injuries related to window falls, said Dr. Gary A. Smith, study author and director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. "That's 14 children a day. This continues to be a very common, important problem."

Researchers studied data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, maintained by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The group monitors injuries involving consumer products, treated in emergency departments nationwide. Researchers divided data from almost 4,000 patients into two groups: 0-4 years and 5-17 years.

Boys were involved in more falls from windows than girls were. In addition, the younger children made up two-thirds of the injuries. The injury rate was highest at age 2.

"These are kids who don't recognize danger – they're curious, they want to explore and when they see an open window, they are going to investigate," Smith said. "Kids at that age tend to be top heavy. Their center of gravity is up near their chest and so as they lean out of the window to see what's going on, they'll topple."

Many of the young children experienced injuries to their head or face, and, often times, these led to hospitalization or death. On the other hand, children in the older group were more likely to have fractures to their arms or legs.

While a few children did fall from a third story or higher, many more fell from a first- or second-story window.

"What we're finding is that most of these aren't these really high-rise buildings," Smith added. "These are just often homes or apartments that aren't high-rise, where children live. This is a problem that extends to small towns and even rural areas across the country."

He reinforces the message that a screen does not offer protection and should give parents no feeling of comfort.

Smith, who is a pediatric emergency medicine physician, offers the following advice for parents.

Parents of children younger than 5:
-Use window guards or locks
-Do not allow any window to be open more than four inches
-Move furniture away from windows so children cannot climb on it

Parents of children older than 5:
-Educate children and teens of the risk of climbing out of a window or jumping from it

The authors also note that the landing surface made a difference. The patients who ended up on a cushioned surface often fared better than those who ended up on a hard surface.

"Our focus should be on preventing the child from falling in the first place, but cushioning the fall can help," Smith noted.

"If a child falls from a window and they land on bushes or a planted flower bed, that often is enough to cushion the fall so that they'll end up with bruises or scrapes instead of a severe injury," he said.

The study points out that great reductions were seen in New York and Boston after programs were implemented there to combat the problem. The programs involved education in the community and among parents. Window guards were also made available. In New York City, window guards became mandatory in apartments where young children lived.

"We know what works," Smith said. "We need to now go out and implement that."

Smith said there were limitations with the set of data, especially with fatality numbers, and therefore these numbers under represent the problem.

I think the building codes should include for window guards in any multi level building where children live, just as sprinkler systems are required in many buildings. The cost is minimal but the loss of even one life is far too great!

I.we should start a new governement agency to oversee the work in making this happen. It is the govenments fault that this has been happennig and we must demand any and all regulations needed to make it never happen again. Parents can not be held responsible for something the governement has not told us how to avoid. Any ilegal alien that this happens to should be given full citizenship. They have not broken any law yet have to suffer these kinds of accidents. It could be paid for by tapping into Social Secruity and Military Retiree pay so don't tell me we don't have the money

I disagree, Mike. There is already research going on in this area, so I don't believe a new government agency is required to oversee any regulatory changes. In my opinion, that seems a rather ambitious position to create an entirely new agency. I also believe its creation, or modifcation of an existing agency, will never fully prevent these acidents from ever happening again. Kids are curious ... accidents happen. I also disagree with your comment about illegal aliens. A fall from a window should not grant anyone immediate citizenship. And based on current calculations, in contrast with your last claim, there is not available funding in Social Security and Military Retirement funds. (Just spitballing here, but I'm guessing some sort of legislation would be required to use those funds to pay for illegal alien accidents/health care, and that seems highly unlikely given the state of our highly divisive congresspersons.)

I am just glad to hear that research is being done. My God I had no idea how bad this was. For now I am going with mattresses under wach window. I hope the government will supply the mattresses. I would provide jobs.

You obviously don't have kids because no parent would make such a short-sighted, ignorant comment. Even the BEST pareants cannot watch their kids 24/7. You can have the most loving & attentive parent and the most obedient child...and sadly, accidents STILL happen. Believe me.

@Greg: Wow, it is quite amazing that you remember every single second of your life. How else could you know that your parents never took their eyes off you for a second? They should do a medical study on your memory, I'm sure it would be fascinating.

We have always kept a close eye on our children, especially when they were very young. One day, I turned my head for a few seconds when one of my sons called me. I looked back, and my other son, who was about 3 at the time, was up in the window, leaning on the screen. I ran towards him right as the screen popped out and he began to fall. Luckily, I caught him before he fell, but had I waited a few seconds longer, it would not have been a happy ending.

No parent, no matter how good, can watch their children 24×7. Every parent, no matter how good, makes mistakes.

Just bubble wrap your kids, make sure they wear their germ masks, feed them only raw protein paste (soylent green works best for this) and don't worry about it when your kids are 45, still living at home and unable to get a job beyond Taco Bell.

Seriously, these studies from ER docs usually only come up with raw numbers and fail to look at rate or severity of injuries. How many kids are injured by paper cuts every year? How about from falls inside the home?

You don't have many kids injured/dying from hi-rise buildings because despite what articles like this assume, most people aren't idiots. Where a fall is very likely to be fatal, parents usually account for it. Many, many buildings even have safety built in whether it's heavy screening, bars, or limited opening distance.

The idiots here are the ones that assume kids don't move furniture around to get to where they want to go. If you're relying on "keeping furniture away from windows" or "don't open windows more than 4" without having an actual limiter on the window, the kids are getting around it. The limiters either need to be real locks (not latches), be totally out of reach, or relatively permanent (a simple screw block along the track is what many hotels use for sliders). The advice here is the typical nonsense you get from people who are looking to write an article but don't think beyond that.

Um...yeah, tarek. That's great advice. Bet you're glad your own parents didn't heed such wise words. Besides, you yourself don't need to have kids; there are plenty of great ones around who will grow up, become educated and take care of you in your old age. Future teachers, doctors, and parents are all little ones right now. Some day, you'll be glad people are out there making babies! 🙂

May we pretty psaele have blingity bling photos?!?!?Also, I have an idea for the list. How about getting a sassy new haircut. Not that there is anything wrong with your hair (I swear – long haired gals unite!!) but there is something about a new haircut that just makes you feel so good and new and stuff. Ya know? And maybe some luxurious spa activities as well, like a massage and a mani/pedi.

Parents keep an eye on your childern .. And yes that means we have to watch our kids every second of the day .. As they get older it gets easier ... But that one time, that one minute, that we go to the other room and plan to be right back, is when things happen ..

How in the hell are people not up in arms over this!!! I mean that's more children than are hurt by fire arms each year and people start screaming about banning fire arms every time you see a kid on tv that's injured by fire arm.

We should ban windows and fine the window makers for making windows so easy to fall out of. Where's my lawyer!!!!

The difference is quite simple: If my kids falls out a window, he only kills himself. If your kids brings a gun to school, and shoots up a bunch of other kids, then they end up dead. The fact of the matter is "guns kill." Let's see these same school-gun-rampage nuts kill just as many other kids with only their bare hands... yeah, not gonna happen.

Mckibbin does have a point. Most economic modles used to analyse the effect of mitigation policies are CGE modles, which don't allow for shocks to lead to any disequilibria in the labour market. I don't think Warwick would claim that the forecast for employment or unemployment in his model that far out would be accurate. Just that the labour market is modelled more realistically. The 1.6 million jobs figure cited by Swan largely drops out of whatever they are assuming for population growth, the labour force participation rate and the unemployment rate over the next 9 years.

Tether the little rug rats.
Each kid will be encased in a vest. This will be installed by their pediatrician and parents can not remove it. Every 6 months it will be replaced with a larger size.

In the center of the living room will be installed a large metal ring. Each child shall be attached to this ring by way of a tethering devise from their vest. (Similar to a dog in a harness chained to a ground screw but I know we can mention dogs n kids restraints in the same breath or MOTHERS get upset) The tether shall be at least 1 foot shorter than any of the household danger items (you will need to refer to the published pamphlet for the full list) such as windows, doors, stairs, couches, recessed living room, porches and floors.

I dont know if anyone remembers..but Eric Clapton's son was killed from a fall out of a window. There is a easy solution...building owners need to stop sacrificing safety for a "million dollar" views, and parents need to make sure the home/apartment is safe enough for their children.

Wow there are some really cold people commenting here. CNN has posted an informational article about window safety and children and all you folks seem to be able to do is worry yourselves to death about the "Nanny State" and make incredibly mean comments about the couple of brave souls who related their accidents to you. Accidents are just that accidents. Tomorrow one of you could be driving your car with your kids aboard and in your mad rush to get them to school and you to work you "accidentally" run a red just as it turns and you roll into oncoming traffic which may result in a tragic incident in your family. How would you feel knowing that if you'd worried less about time and more about safety no one would have been hurt. Car accidents happen all the time because people rush and children are involved in many of them.

My story is a pretty simple one and it's offered in support of the other two posters who had the nerve to relate their experiences which trust me are fraught with a deep of sense of guilt because they are parents and do indeed love their children above all else.

I'm a grandparent and my only grandson at just over two years of age fell out of a 3rd floor window. Preceding the day that the accident happened I lost both my parents in a car accident. Eight months later my career of 16 years in the non-profit sector disappeared due to the mortgage and bank crashes, as the non-profit sector is always the first to take a hit in a down turn. My Grandson was in the accident with my parents. He sustained major trauma to his brain, broke his back and arm and other sundry things. My parents and I owned a duplex which in the end I lost because the insurance company that handled my grandson's medical filed a lien against their 1/2 for $ 90,000.00 keeping in mind that during the mortgage meltdown my home had lost significant value and now was unsellable I had no choice but to turn it over. I lost 28 years of investment in that home to say nothing of all the memories I had of our family. When I lost the house we moved to a 3rd floor apartment. At this point I am the walking wounded. We've been in the apartment a week. I'm cleaning and trying to get the musty smell out, and my grandson now fully recovered, is sitting at my desk playing his games on the computer. I'm step away to the kitchen to refill a cleaning bucket make him a PBJ and the next thing I know people are pounding on my front door. I hadn't been out of the room but three minutes. We think he heard kids and got up to investigate. It was a tiny bedroom. A small apartment compared to my own home so I was drowning in furniture all over the place. Things were stacked as we tried to get them to where they needed to be stored in the future. It was a problem I never had to consider in my home since everything was on the ground floor. My bad, and no one beat me up worse than I did myself.

I state the preceding because we all WANT to believe that we alert 100% of the time, but in truth even if you weren't living the train wreck of a life I was at the time, it is not humanly possible. The apartment complex did immediately put locks on OUR windows, unfortunately they didn't on any one else's. That's a fact I found very sad. Even more ironic, understanding that I wasn't thinking very clearly as my world was falling apart, was the fact that I had maintenance install high door locks on both the balcony door and the front door so he wouldn't fall down the stairs the same day we moved in. I don't know why I didn't think about the windows. Truth of the matter is that I don't remember a lot about that whole period, one of the little blessings that God gives us when we are so overwhelmed by tragedy.

Parents are human, they make mistakes, sometimes fatal mistakes. I'm happy to say that he was fine, with a one night stay in the hospital specifically because of the previous damage from the accident. He is now a boisterous 5 year old entering his first year of school. Do I feel guilt...absolutely, what parent/grandparent wouldn't. I'm an adoring grandparent and that child is my life as are my two grown children.

In closing I will leave you with this quote as it's basis is the purpose and foundation of this INFORMATIVE article. This piece wasn't about Nanny State. It is simply information provided for parents so fewer children will be hurt by these preventable falls.

"The most fertile source of insight is hindsight." Morris Kline, Mathematics: The Loss of Certainty

I'd ask what it was like to be an idiot, but clearly you've never had an alternative reality for comparison.

Yes, there's no difference between windows and guns. Windows are also created solely to allow people to maim and kill other people.
Your stupidity is surprising, even for a CNN message board . . . and desperately trying to politicize something that's not remotely political is the cry of the powerless.

There are many window guards on the market; amazon lists quite a few and the cheapest model is about $22. That seems reasonable but if you're a low-income family in a 2 story house w/say–5 or 6 upstairs windows...that's still over a hundred bucks and many folks just don't have extra cash right now.

We have a 2 story home w/younger kids but we NEVER leave the upstairs windows open more than 4-5" unless the kids are gone. It's just not worth the risk. I don't care how many times you "educate them about the risk", kids are kids and accidents WILL happen.

This should not be a building code issue. People in America need to take some responsibility for a change! And by only allowing windows to open four inches you are defeating the purpose of egress windows, creating a larger fire hazard. Window guards also prevent windows from being used in case of a fire. The answer is simple. People need to supervise their kids. An easy concept but people can't seem to figure out how to do it these days.

People just need to watch their kids, right? Hell, fill the home environment up with as many hazards as possible. Let's lower the knobs on the gas-stove to kid height. Move the anti-freeze back down to the lowest cabinet. "You just need to watch your kids." It's all good. Remove those pesky electrical outlets, all adults are capable of just touching the wires together. Just watch your kids.

Luckily, progress marches on, and dolts like you have little effect on it.

I hate to point fingers but bedroom windows sizes are set by building codes and they are required to be big so that firemen can get through them. unfortunatly this makes windows lower and easier to fall out of.

So u should just never go to the bathroom or fix ur family a meal? sometimes u have to leave the room and take ur eyes off ur child. There are things to help prevent accidents so u can leave ur toddler to play while u do go about getting some things done around the house. u people honostly believe u can just watch ur children literally every second of every day? then u obviously dont have children.

How about, try being a parent! Amazing things can't happen when you are actually paying attention to and involved and rearing your child. True story.

Open the excuse factory now to absolve yourself from being a failure of a parent. Sure, you may have to go to the bathroom and you should just expect miracles instead of being responsible enough to make sure the little genius has a buffer from dangers. Then when the obvious happens you can call the people living in reality who call you out just mean or assume they are as much of an irresponsible failure of a parent as you are!

First off, all you ppl that made jokes about children falling out of windows need to go to hell!! This is nothing to laugh at just like you don't want ppl to know you were molested by your parents, repeatedly or that your c*** is small. Anyone that finds amusement in something as tragic as this should be parchuted over the red zone in Iraq. You troll slime get punched in the face in real life so you make disgusting comments that ppl can do without, for attention!! Your existence on Earth is being exausted if all you can do is type rude ish to make ppl mad. Not every case is due to negligence on the parents side and unlike you, anyone that has kids (You have to get laid for that to happen) knows that they cannot watch their kids at all times. It takes a split second for something life threatening to happen hence why some of the commenters haven't left moms since that bully touched you instead of beating you that day lol. Negligence can be the case sometimes but building materials used for gaurds or window locks are usually poor or none existant in less affluent places. The windows themselves are also sometimes of poor quality which doesn't help the situation. There are places that have gaurds on some of the windows acknowledging a fall danger but not on every unit. I feel that apts should be held liable for children that fall from windows without gaurds on them for the simple fact that most parents that love their kids take the proper measures to protect the kids and still end up in a tragic situation. I believe that if a landlord can't afford proper security bars or locks for windows in the units or homes that have children in them, they should have to pay for all the damages a third story fall can do to a childs life. Severe head trauma leads to irrepairable brain damage, amnesia, and loss of motor skills which can be devastating to a family. Not to ad the costs of medical bills and hotels to stay close to the P.I.C.U., food and expenses for days even weeks until they can do something for your child. Honestly, I don't know how a landlord can't be held responsible if police didn't deem any parent party negligent to an apparent danger. 14 kids a day falling out of windows is just ridiculous and shows that something more needs to be done to combat this other than try and make parents look like they aren't taking care of their kids to cover a soon to be chaffed a**!!!

How come fundamentalist Christians are more lelkiy to believe in conspiracy theories?It doesn't apply to everyone, but, I've noticed it both in real life and online. The ideas that there is a global warming conspiracy, a 9/11 conspiracy, a New World Order, etc. Especially here on Yahoo! Answers, browsing the global warming section, clicking to see that person's other Q A, and if that person posted there some long rant about how Al Gore is with liberals with a big conspiracy theory, there is almost always answers in Religion Spirituality debunking evolution, etc. I've found the same thing just talking with people: those who think evolution is a lie, also believe in some crazy ideas about conspiracies.I hate to generalize about any group, but, any thoughts?I don't mean to make sterotypes; THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO EVERYBODY. It's just something I've noticed over time. The only people I know that are in to conspiracy theories are also the biggest Christians I know.

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